This is going to be a long one. To help me resist starting seeds immediately (it’s only January), I’ll meditate on lessons learned from last season.
1. Grow fruit that is a fun color.
It is so much easier to identify stuff that is ready to pick when it doesn’t blend in with the foliage around it. This probably seems obvious but really makes a big difference. The worst hiders were probably cucumbers and beans. Where possible, I plan to grow purple or yellow beans, and the light green silver slicer cucumbers.
2. Connect the ollas
It was an ergonomic nightmare to bend or crouch down with a hose and a funnel, getting the flow rate just right, and waiting for each olla to refill. I’ve seen people connect them, and think that would be a worthwhile endeavor to reduce the number of watering points. If possible I’d also bring the inlet up higher and have a permanent funnel attached. I waited on executing this to see if they lasted, and to see if I want to change up my layout before I commit.
3. Start seeds indoors a little bit later
This year I was really excited to start seeds, and I started some as early as January. For some, like herbs that grow fairly slowly, this was fine. By March I had a mature zucchini plant producing a small zucchini growing in my living room. Needless to say, the larger plants got a bit unwieldy keeping them all in my living room until it was warm enough to start hardening them off outside. This year I plan to only start the very slowest growers before April.
4. Cover the greens
I discovered this year that my leafy greens (chard, arugula, spinach, etc.) were popular with some destructive critters like aphids and leaf miner flies. My options were to spray a highly effective organic substance ON EACH LEAF FRONT AND BACK only when the bees aren’t out like after dark (I did that exactly once before deciding that wasn’t going to work for me), or to cover greens with a fine mesh net to prevent leaf miner flies form landing on the greens in the first place. The garden manager swears by the latter method. That is my plan for this year: constructing a mesh hoop house for greens that don’t need pollinators. If that doesn’t work, I might just nix the greens.
I did find that at the peak of summer it seemed to be too hot, or my chard was vigorous enough that the leaf miners were not an issue any more. They returned in the fall, however.
5. Level and ditch for irrigation
Turns out even on a small plot thinking about where the water is going to flow when you surface water is a good idea. I tend to water at the base of plants to avoid leaf issues, and having a trench to water in was really helpful (especially for things like beets and radishes that get big leaves that can be hard to water around).
6. Make room for zucchini
Before this year I only grew zucchini in pots. In Alaska. Growing in-ground at peak summer yielded a giant, constantly growing plant. By the end of the season, the main stalk grew about 4 feet long. The poor plants I rooted nearby didn’t stand a chance. The zucchini plant basically plowed through the surrounding plants and blocked out a lot of light. Next year I’d like to plan accordingly by leaving empty space later in the season or… going more vertically. Like a squash ramp or something. We’ll see.
7. Wait to go vertical until the soil thaws
It’s hard to pound posts into frozen ground. Most of the vertical plants are not happy in the cold weather anyway (cucumbers, squash, beans). The only exception would be for peas.
8. Have a frost plan
Frost came late this season, and I was scrambling to deal with it. It all went fine, but I think I’ll try to keep it in mind setting up my young plants in case I need to get them covered in a pinch.
9. Embrace the journey
I was fortunate this year to have a beginners mindset, and generally approached the whole season as a data-gathering year. It was easy to move on from failures because my only goal was to learn what did or didn’t go well. I’m hoping to keep this attitude into this season. I’m not growing things to stay alive. It’s ok if something dies.
10. Keep track of the main vine
For vine plants (butternut squash, cucumbers, indeterminate tomatoes, etc.) I like to prune them fairly aggressively to reduce sucker vines apart from the main vine. This keeps the energy more concentrated on the main vine and in theory yields more fruit as long as the season supports the plant. In the peak of the season all of these plants grew like crazy and easily got away from me. I think I’m going to try marking the main vine as it grows so it’s easier to chase back when I want to prune. If you accidentally prune the main vine, the plant won’t grow any longer, only branch out broader.
11. Have a plan for using produce
I grew a little bit of everything this year to see how I liked things, without much plan for what to do with edible plants when I picked them. I’ve not got some good techniques for preserving some things but I definitely had a fair amount of waste for things that needed to be eaten quickly like tomatoes and cucumbers. I’m not a big pickling fan, but I figured out I can roast or blanch then freeze most things. I’ve also identified some friends who appreciate being fresh veg donees and help me eat things.
12. Have a plan to prevent damp seedlings
Last year my seed starting operation got shut down at a certain point because of some kind of systemic issue. I’m not entirely sure, but the symptoms seemed to align with what other describe as “damp”, or mold? I live in a fairly dry climate so I didn’t anticipate this. I’d like to prevent this this year. I already cleaned most of my seed starting stuff really thoroughly so hopefully it won’t carry forward. I’m planning to do a few things to help like increasing air flow, keeping my main potting soil stockpile in a breathable container, and cleaning things thoroughly between batches. Fingers crossed I won’t suffer the same fate.
13. Plan for 50% loss
From the number of seeds sprinkled in starting trays, to then transplanted into started pots, then planted in the ground, most things I planted lost about 50% of plants along the way. At first I thought I had way to many seeds started, but in some cases I lost all but one or two by the time they were transplanted. Some of this is a result of the damp mentioned above, and some of it was a result of running out of space to properly harden off plants while it was still pretty chilly.
14. Blog about it
Turns out blogging about it was fun, and a really helpful way to motivate me to reflect on things that worked, and things that didn’t, and celebrate my successful harvests!
15. Be patient
I want to start seeds right now. If I do, I will run out of space. Also I want to fix issues with any plant immediately and I want the remedy to work immediately. In some cases letting it play out worked out fine.
16. Fungicide
I got powdery mildew on several squash / cucumber plants a few times in the season. The prevailing wisdom says to treat the plants before the mildew even begins, or right when it starts before things get bad. I’m planning to apply some preventative fungicide spray this year to keep my squash plants healthy.
17. Cedar mulch is ok
I second guessed my decision to use cedar mulch in my beds because of all of the conflicting info about using cedar mulch around vegetables. I think it was fine, and it definitely helped with preventing weeds and keeping the soil cooler. No plans to overhaul mulch.
18. Soil makes a difference
I had two plots, right next to each other. All other things being equal, one plot was simply more productive than the other, even with similar plants. I suspect it was something in the soil. As I’m switching plots this year, the mystery will continue. This also applies to my seeds starting operation, which I already addressed.
19. Sluggo is not the answer
At some point my plants in my yard were under slug siege because of the abundance of moisture, shade, and slug food. I put out beer traps, but sought something more nuclear. I put out sluggo (bait/poison for slugs). Later that day I watched large birds and squirrels immediately dig up and eat all of the sluggo within a few hours. It can’t be good for them, and it didn’t last long enough to help with the slugs. I’ll be looking for other ways to prevent slug takeover.
20. Support your squash
I grew my butternuts up a trellis. My research told me to support the squash as they grew. I did that with the first two. After picking them I though, I bet the plant can handle these, I don’t need to support them. As the squash got quite large, they split a few inches below the top of the gourd (not at the vine or the stem!), forming a permanent deep crack in the side of the squash. They weren’t viable anymore once they started oozing. I’ll plan to support them all this year.
New challenges
I’m looking forward to some new challenges this season:
- New, bigger plot! I’ll have to figure out the soil and a new layout. I also observed that it comes with a healthy dill population built-in.
- New seeds. I bought a bunch of new seeds to try. On top of my list are luffa gourds (grow my own sponges!), delicata squash, some new bean varieties, and larger tomatoes.
- Old favorites. I’m excited to proceed confidently with some of my star performers: butternut squash, sugar snap peas, fordhook zucchini, silver slicer cucumbers, green onions, biquinho peppers, chard, and spinach.
- Irrigation updgrades. I plan to install ollas in the new plot, but hope to connect them to make watering the system easier.
- TOWER. OF. WORMS. I’d like to try an in-ground composting worm tower. Seems like an easy win, basically feeding the worms that are already living in ground in the garden, having them break down scraps and turn it into worm castings.
ROAD TRIP 